More on the May sweeps meltdown

Scott Collins writes in the LA Times that the May sweeps disaster “is beginning to look like a signal moment in the slow, painful meltdown of the broadcast TV industry.” He goes on:

“Broadcasting, simply put, isn’t casting broadly anymore. As the sweep suggests, the TV networks are losing not just their viewers but also their sense of specialness. They’re becoming just the lowest numbers on the multichannel dial, rather than the last outposts of mass culture. It’s true that this evolution has been happening for years, but this year a tipping point was reached, a Rubicon crossed. Broadcast exceptionalism — its supposed immunity from the market forces afflicting all other media — is finally dead.”

TV Week: Deconstructing the TV season from hell

19 comments May 26th, 2008